Free the Yandina Five !!!

By Zine Larbaoui (TLB Exec. Dir. Of Media)

Social injustices have littered the annals of history for ages. Victor Hugo exposed this dark side of our societies in his opus “Les Miserables,” narrating so well how vulnerable people may be punished to extremes just to appease the fears of the ignorant and gain political points for the ambitious, in the process.

We’ve all seen the headlines, the prejudices and stereotypes attached to some groups who inhabit the fringes of society, the bogeymen that keep the conformed majority in fear, the terrorists that the main stream media keeps on the spotlight to subject the sheep to chronic anxieties and at the same time help unscrupulous politicians get elected, the security state mandated to crack down on “the undesirable” and the corporations providing security and anti-depressant medication, rolling in an abundant stream of revenue.

There is an injustice, so controversial and backed by an arbitrary law that it stands out on its own, down under in Australia. Apparently, certain groups are not allowed to congregate if it’s more than 3 persons. How more insane can legislators get?

A group of five men were arrested last month for supposedly having links to “The Rebels”, a biker organization like the “Hells Angels”. They have been held in jail since. One of the accused, Joshua Carew, 30, has been sitting in solitary confinement in a Brisbane jail after allegedly delivering a pizza to his boss and brother at the country pub.

Tim Wilson, former policy director of the Institute of Public Affairs, controversially appointed to the Human Rights Commission last month and set to take up his position as early as this month, says the laws are inconsistent with an individual’s right to freely associate, and should be repealed. “Bikies have just as much right to freely associate as all other Australians,” he says in a statement. “The imprisonment of people for free association that are not otherwise engaged in criminal activity is deeply, deeply disturbing.” He continues, “the fact that other states have and continue to look at replicating these laws is equally disturbing, these laws are a demonstration of the worst consequences of what happens when people are treated as groups under the law, and not as individuals.”

Is this the kind of world we want to live in? Is this the kind of world we want to raise our children in? Haven’t we had enough of all the fear mongering emanating from the media and political class whose only purpose is to keep the lot of us in fear and definitely divided?

Of course not! Free the Yandina 5!

UPDATE: It seems that at this point two of these individuals are out on bail. But they must still face the charges levied against them in court. It would also seem that as the law stands they will indeed face jail time. The corrupted scales of justice weigh heavily against them …